SD1-302

Genre: Healing/conflict resolution. The ritual Tata liba was performed to reconciliate two families in the village Ndeo, traditional domain Ndéo, Palu’e, 1 March 2012. The background is a conflict between the family of Pio Ware and the family of Ngaji Mude, which had been brewing for several months. After a member of Pio Ware’s family became severely ill they decided to seek reconciliation with Ngaji Mude, because it is believed that the ancestors sanction wrongdoers with disease and death (people might also seek divination to find out the reason for the disease). The officiant was Sebastianus Sosu, an elder from the hamlet Nara, together with the new ceremonial leader of Ndéo, lakimosa Ropi. Ropi held the ceremony, but because he was still learning, having spent his previous adult life in east Java, Sosu was called upon to speak the ritual language, Pa’e. It is Sosu who does the talking in the recording. The latter part of Pa’e used in this context is called Bhulu wa’o, to ask for the blessings of the ancestors, Hina hama pu mori, who are invoked in the first sentences with 'You elders who live in the house of Nitu. You who live in the house of Noa' (Nitu and Noa are ancestral dwellings. Ratu reported that the ceremony was successful, with a lasting effect, the quarrel between the families was over. A large part of the village observed the ceremony. Tata liba is essentially a ritual of reconciliation, but it can also be done with preventive intentions, such as in the two other recorded ceremonies. In Tata liba, whatever the size of the ritual, the participants must sit on a bamboo pole facing the east. Each participant is given raw (ceremonial) rice grains to hold in their hands, which will be thrown behind the back toward the west and the setting sun at the closing of the ritual. The officiant holds a coconut bowl with water and cotton fluff which he soaks in the water and then puts/splashes it (‘tata’) with a touch on the bodies of the participants, beginning with the forehead five times, then moving down toward the feet, one splash at each part of the body, arms, chest, navel, knees, feet. The water used in the ceremony is sometimes called ‘wae rita’, referring to the water of the Rita tree, metaphorically meant. After the officiant has spoken in ritual language and put water on everyone, the participants throw the rice grains behind them and spit in the coconut bowl, leaving behind negative feelings. The bad things, the negativity, should disappear with the setting sun. Tata liba, especially one involving many participants, may also involve the offering of egg(s) and money on an ancestor stone, 'rate', immediately after the ceremony. After a Liba ritual of this size the participants will share a meal, likely a slaughtered pig with rice. Recorded with a handphone by Hilarius Ratu 1 March 2012, two years before he joined SD to document Palu’e oral traditions (2014-2016). Supplementary material to a paper describing the ritual (to appear).Palu'e, Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. Recording made in kampong Ndeo, Kéli domai